Chapter 102
-GRAYSON-
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The puck dropped and every part of me wanted to put Chase through the boards.
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He had lied. He had made me believe Blair went to him the night she signed the divorce papers, that the baby was his, that I had been a detour she erased by morning. I wanted to beat the shit out of him for it. I wanted to see red. He’d put Blair through so much and he was still trying to ruin her life because he was too selfish to accept that he’d messed up and it was too late to get her back now.
Even though I wanted to punch him, I did not.
I had already made a mess of things. I had already missed four games. I had already been sent to anger management and therapy after the charity-cup stretcher incident. And the part that actually held me still was simpler than any of that.
I had promised Blair. I had promised her I would behave.
No fighting tonight. That was the only way I even got her to agree to come to this event.
I planned on keeping my promise. I did not want any reason for her to be more upset than she already was with me.
So I played him like a captain instead of a man looking for blood. I played him how I should have in the past instead of letting his words get to me.
First shift, I took the puck behind our net and moved. Nothing fancy-just speed and the lane Marcus gave me at the red line.
I dumped it in, beat their defenseman to the wall, and cycled it back.
Good. More like that would work in my favor.
Callum one-timed it from the circle. Pad save. Rebound. I was there. I stuffed it under the glove.
One-nothing.
The building got loud. I could hear the happiness from the crowd especially after three games were lost back to back.
Chase came at me on the next change with his mouth already open, ready to say things to piss me off. I wasn’t letting him get to me today. I had too much to look forward to. A baby on the way with the woman I was in
love with.
I heard him mention her name. I did not answer. I finished the check, took two strides, and left him talking to my back.
They tied it mid-period on a power play I was not even on. Theo got screened. Puck leaked through.
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The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
I sat on the bench, sucked in some air, and looked up once.
Blair was in the box.
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Family around her. It felt so good to see her out there supporting me again. I didn’t realize just how much I missed it until this exact moment.
Chase followed my eyes.
I saw it hit him. The fact that she had come for me after everything he had done to pry her out of this arena. Out of my life. His face went tight and it had nothing to do with the score.
Good.
Second period I played simpler. Forecheck. Takeaways. No extra steps toward Holt. When he lined up across from me on a draw, I stared at the ice and won the puck back to Marcus. We went up again on a tip in front.
Two-one.
He tried again along the wall. To piss me off. To distract me from the game. To get me kicked out again. I was prepared for it this time.
“You’re wild,” he said, close enough that only I could hear it. “Accepting a woman pregnant with another man’s child. That could never be me.”
I kept my gloves on. Kept my feet moving. The puck went up the boards and I spoke without looking at him first.
“You’re desperate,” I said, “for claiming a child that was never yours to begin with.”
His face changed. Not just anger. A crack.
I finished the clear, then turned enough that he had to hear the rest.
“That baby is mine. She’s never even slept with you Chase. Get over it and move the fuck on.”
His mouth opened. Nothing useful came out.
I stepped in half a stride, voice low, meant only for him. “Blair’s mine. She has been mine since I married her. She is the mother of my child. I love her. I love her in a way you never did, because if you had, you would not have married someone else while you were still with her. It’s about time you stopped saying her name. She has nothing to do with you anymore.”
For the first time, he looked like a man who had just seen the full shape of what he had done. The mistake he’d made by letting her go.
The years she paid for him to be as successful as he was now. The wedding she found out about on a phone. He’d messed up his entire life because he didn’t appreciate a good woman.
I wasn’t about to make the same mistake that he did.
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The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
He looked up at her.
She did not look at him.
She was watching me.
“She’s mine, Chase. Give it up. I’m never letting her go.”
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That did more damage than physically hurting him. I could see it on his face. How much it hurt. I almost felt sorry for the guy…almost.
I had said what I needed to say. The rest belonged to the scoreboard.
Third period they pushed. Desperate hockey. They wanted to win. I blocked a shot that went numb up my shin and stayed on the ice anyway. With four minutes left I picked Holt’s pocket at our blue line.
He was a second late. His head was still somewhere in the stands. I went the other way and slid it to Marcus at the back door.
Three-one.
They got one late. A bounce Theo almost had.
Three-two.
Chase tried to cut me off at the wall. I moved the puck first, body second. His stick slashed at nothing. The
clock said it was over.
We’d won.
Fuck yes. That felt good.
Because I chose to play the game instead of allowing Chase’s words to affect me. Today, I intentionally flipped the situation. It was Chase who ended up being influenced by my comments, not the other way around. I felt a sense of satisfaction, knowing I had handled it the right way and achieved the outcome I intended.
Chase’s face was wrecked, the look of a man who had realized his life was over.
I looked past him toward the box, where Blair was on her feet, shouting my name.
Fuck.
She looked so damn beautiful up there. And even better, she was supporting me.
I had kept my promise to her.
And Chase Holt, for once, looked like he finally understood that the thing he had thrown away was never coming back to him.
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The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
Dex Morgan
Dex works to elevate each story with clean writing, emotional balance, and thoughtful flow for readers.